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Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Not going to ALA

I was really looking forward to heading out to Philadelphia tomorrow. But it is not meant to be. On Monday, I suffered a retinal detachment. For a librarian, there isn't much more devastating than going blind. I was lucky though. My eye doctor got me in to see a retinal specialist right away. I had surgery on Monday night and it is looking good. It will be a few more days before we know if it was successful but as of this morning, all signs are looking toward success. I'll still have a few more procedures to have done but hope to be as good as new soon. I look like I've been in a boxing match! My eye is so swollen I can't see out of it anyway!

This near tragedy experience made me realize how blessed I am in my life. I have my sight, my health, my family, my colleagues and, thankfully, great health insurance. My doctor was telling me today that some people choose blindness because they have no health insurance and can't afford the surgery. How can this happen in this country? I just went to the surgeon, presented my health card and never gave it a second thought on Monday. Now I am thinking a lot about those who can't do that.

When you are looking at candidates in the upcoming elections, imagine you have no health insurance and your doctor has just told you that you are going blind. How would that affect you?